Tag Archives: Heavy Metal

13 Classic Heavy Metal Songs With The Vocals Only

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Isolated Vocals On 13 Songs From Classic Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Motley Crue & Other Bands

Ian Gillan, Deep Purple photo: Jan Persson

We will conclude our overview of isolated vocals with a selection of songs from some of the most iconic hard rock and heavy metal bands.

What you may notice in listening to these cuts is that more than other types of rock, heavy metal has people who can sing and others who greatly benefit with the helping hand of compression and echo.

There were many bands to possibly profile and limiting the number of songs to a bakers dozen was a challenge. While we would consider including Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Anthrax, Slayer, Testament and other thrash bands, we left them out this time. Maybe we’ll revisit this subject in the future.

Originators

Starting things off is the band that many fans consider the inventors of heavy metal, Black Sabbath with Paranoid (vocals – Ozzy Osbourne)

In music polls, Led Zeppelin is consistently ranked as the one of the greatest bands in rock history. They also influenced practically every hard rock and metal band even if Zeppelin themselves did not call themselves a “heavy metal” band. This is their iconic 1971 song Rock and Roll (vocals-  Robert Plant)

Most rock fans can name the song in three notes. If Deep Purple did not Continue reading →

Former Iron Maiden Singer Paul Di’Anno Dies At 66 – Essential Ingredient To Maiden’s Success

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Paul Di’Anno Was Crucial To Iron Maiden’s Rise To The Top Of Heavy Metal

Vocalist Paul Di’Anno (left) & bassist Steve Harris (right) of Iron Maiden photo: EMI

Paul Di’Anno the original vocalist on Iron Maiden’s 1980 eponymous debut album and 1981 follow-up Killers, died today at his home in Salisbury, England at the age of 66. Di’Anno was fired (or quit according to Di’Anno) from Iron Maiden in 1981.

Di’Anno had numerous health issues over the past few decades and for the last several years Di’Anno would sing while seated in a wheelchair.

The first two Iron Maiden studio albums plus a 1981 live EP release, Maiden Japan, showcase the prowess of a young hungry band and the unabashed vocals of Paul Di’Anno. The albums represent the punk-metal hybrid that Iron Maiden was originally producing.

Without Di’Anno the band would jettison the punk edges in lieu of a more polished heavy metal sound.

How much and what Di’Anno contributed is difficult to quantify. Four words come to mind to describe early Maiden. Edgy. Raw. Unyielding. Powerful.  It’s best to see and hear Di’Anno live.

Live At The Rainbow December 21, 1980

Post-Di’Anno, Iron Maiden would rise to worldwide fame with their new singer Bruce Dickinson.

During his short time with Iron Maiden, Di’Anno managed to capture a large group of fans who would remain convinced Di’Anno was the not just the preferred vocalist Continue reading →

Metallica Plays “Am I Evil” Live With Diamond Head’s Brian Tatler

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Brian Tatler Joins Metallica For A Rare Full Length Performance of “Am I Evil” – June 26, 2024

It may be one of the most recognizable opening riffs in all of heavy metal.

But the band who wrote it achieved limited commercial success. They did however influence countless other heavy metal bands – the most important of them being Metallica.

During a concert in Oslo, Norway on June 26, 2024, Metallica brings Brian Tatler on stage and does something they have rarely done: perform Am I Evil in its entirety. Metallica singer and guitarist James Hetfield sounds absolutely great here.

Diamond Head

Am I Evil was written by Diamond Head’s guitarist Brian Tatler and vocalist Sean Harris. The song was released in Great Britain in 1980 on the album Lightning To The Nations Continue reading →

Making Metal Out Of Rock – Hit Cover Songs & Originals

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Making Rock Harder…and Better?

Metallica’s James Hetfield on stage with flying V guitar photo credit : unknown c. 1984

I’ve always wondered how rock bands feel when they’ve written what they believe to be a great song and later another band records it and has equal or greater success with the song. I guess it’s one thing if the original band is successful with the tune, makes money and has an appreciative fan base. The alternative of a band making music and toiling in relative obscurity with little to no exposure and then having another band come along and make a big hit out of your song does not sound appealing. The original writers receiving composing royalties may take some of the sting out of the situation.

When a heavy metal band covers a song and makes it their own, sometimes the original rock version languishes in obscurity. Years pass and more people are familiar with the cover version and think the cover version is better than the original. Whether that’s true or not is up to the listener.

7 Examples of Rock Songs Covered and Made Popular by Heavy Metal Bands.

We’ll start off with Peter Green and the extremely original British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac. This was before they became a huge pop hit machine after Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan left the band and Fleetwood Mac added Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham. The song is the enigmatic Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown) from 1970.

In 1979 Judas Priest put their indelible mark on Green Manalishi with dual guitars and Rob Halford’s soaring vocals. Just what is the Green Manalishi? Continue reading →

Excepting Eddie Van Halen, The New York Times Continues To Ignore Rock Star Deaths

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Bands Lose Key Members & The New York Times Neglects An Obituary

Steve Priest – The Sweet

Pete Way –  UFO

Paul Chapman UFO

Paul Chapman – UFO

The Grim Reaper has had a robust 2020 taking more than his normal share of victims.

Celebrities, especially rock n’ roll musicians who are all approaching the age of inevitable demise have been dying at an alarming pace.  But you would never know it if you rely on the New York Times for the obituaries.

Eddie Van Halen obituary placed below where the paper is folded in half NY Times October 7, 2020.

Mega-music stars are the exception and get some sort of recognition.

Eddie Van Halen was just too big to ignore. While the Times placed Van Halen on October 7th front page, it put him below the fold. Continue reading →

Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson’s Memories of Producer Martin Birch

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How Martin Birch Helped Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson

Iron Maiden 1982 (l-r) Clive Burr, engineer Nigel Green, Dave Murray, Martin Birch, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith photo via The Walk of Fame

Martin Birch, the music producer who worked with more than a score of rock’s legendary groups died Sunday, August 9, 2020 at age 71. No cause of death was announced. He leaves behind his wife Vera and daughter Haley. Continue reading →

20 Great Heavy Metal Quotes From Musicians

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“A French magazine printed my obituary. How did I die? I dunno, it was in French.” – Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister

Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead died in 2015, but supplied our headline quote a few years before his passing.

The man who spoke with Lemmy was Dave Ling. As a U.K. rock journalist, Ling has spent countless hours interviewing the greats of the heavy metal world. I strongly recommend his website.

Within Ling’s site there are hundreds of quotations from hard rock artists.

Here are 20 quotations that are funny, scathing and somewhat insightful.

“Lemmy came to me once and said ‘Alice, I have quit drinking,’ and he had a drink in his hand! I replied ‘That must be Coca-Cola?’, and he said ‘No, there’s a little whiskey in there’. His idea of not drinking was not drinking a bottle of whiskey each night. Maybe just five or six drinks.”
Alice Cooper in 2019

Rush’s Geddy Lee satisfying the fans masochistic urges

Do I have any theories on why our audience keeps coming back? Maybe it’s some kind of intense communal masochistic urge?”
Rush’s Geddy Lee.

“I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same.”
AC/DC’s Angus Young.

“People keep asking why we don’t play ‘Sinner’ anymore. I tell them it’s because we’ve repented.”
KK Downing, Judas Priest.

“Sharon told me about a place where they teach you to drink properly. It was the Betty Ford Centre. I thought, ‘That’s it! I’ve been doing it wrong!’. So I walk in, expecting a demonstration of how to drink a Martini, and I say, ‘Hi Betty Ford, where’s the bar?’ This receptionist is like, ‘What?!'”
Ozzy Osbourne.

“Mae West whispered to me, ‘Why don’t you come on back to my trailer?’ I said: ‘Because you’re 86 years old and I’m not even sure if you’re a woman or not’. But if I hadn’t have been married I would’ve gone. Definitely. Just for the experience.”
Alice Cooper.“

“Adding rap to rock music is a bit like taking the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen to a plastic surgeon, then asking him to give her a penis.”
Manowar’s Karl Logan. Continue reading →

Why Def Leppard Doesn’t Want The Public To See This Video

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The Original Def Leppard, LIVE In 1980 Perform Almost The Entire On Through The Night LP

Def Leppard Was Once A Heavy Metal Band: Then They Started Writing Pop

What Happened?

Their Main Hard Rock Songwriter & Guitarist Was Fired

Can We Forget About The Past?

Here is Pete Willis and the original Def Leppard performing almost in its entirety, one of the ten greatest debut rock albums of all-time.

UPDATE JULY 8. 2020 – No surprise, you will not see the video. For now it has been pulled by original poster – FresnoMediaRestoration. I wonder why??? Hmmmmm.

UPDATE JULY 21 – The video is back! (For now…)

UPDATE JAN 2021 – Video pulled again. To hear the audio of this concert go to the end of this story. At least you can hear what it sounded like.

When Def Leppard recorded their first major label album, they were a heavy metal band though they never called themselves that.

l-r Rick Savage, Joe Elliott, Pete Willis, Rick Allen & Steve Clark c 1980

It was 1980 and Def Leppard had just been signed to a deal with Mercury Records. They were signed on the basis of what three years of honing and craft perfection had wrought – On Through The Night. Previously in 1979, the band printed its own EP and sold an astounding 18,000 copies.

Within the music industry, in order for any band to get a record deal, the band must put forth only their best material. And that is what On Through The Night is. Eleven mostly blistering songs played at a frantic pace with songwriting that displays an ear for catchy and memorable songs.

Here’s the most incredible thing about this video performance of that first album — singer Joe Elliott is 21, guitarists Steve Clark & Pete Willis are 20, bass player Rick Savage is 19 and drummer Rick Allen is – are you kidding me? — 16!!!!

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